Mark 10:42-45, "And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'"
In these verses Jesus explicitly says that He came to earth "to serve." He also says that in His kingdom servanthood equals greatness.
I'm struck by the fact that we're most like Jesus when we are serving others. I'm obviously not referring to Christ's divinity, perfection, omnipotence, etc. Rather, I'm talking about His attitude and actions while He was here on earth. As we read through the gospels we see the incarnated Lord traveling from place to place doing for other people. The night before He died He washed His disciples' nasty, sweaty, dirty feet. The summit of Jesus' service came on the cross.
When we serve others, even in small ways, this is when we look most like Jesus. We can say whatever we want and it doesn't mean much. However, if we do for others and expect nothing in return, this makes people notice. They notice because we aren't acting like the world acts. We are acting like Jesus.
I had the opportunity to help a friend today. It was no big deal. It didn't take long or require much effort. Still, I'm thankful to the Lord to have been able to help. Although I'm obviously not Jesus, while I was serving my friend I felt a little more like Him.
As followers of Jesus we have placed our faith in Him. Real faith is always accompanied by works. As the saying goes, "Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone." The works that are expected by God are works of service. When we perform these we show that our faith is real. It's also when we are the most like Jesus.
Since being like Christ is a wonderful gift, it's clear that when we serve we are actually being given a gift by God. The gift is Christlikeness.
Let's take every opportunity we have to serve others. Not only does it bless the recipient, but it also blesses us by making us more like Jesus.
In these verses Jesus explicitly says that He came to earth "to serve." He also says that in His kingdom servanthood equals greatness.
I'm struck by the fact that we're most like Jesus when we are serving others. I'm obviously not referring to Christ's divinity, perfection, omnipotence, etc. Rather, I'm talking about His attitude and actions while He was here on earth. As we read through the gospels we see the incarnated Lord traveling from place to place doing for other people. The night before He died He washed His disciples' nasty, sweaty, dirty feet. The summit of Jesus' service came on the cross.
When we serve others, even in small ways, this is when we look most like Jesus. We can say whatever we want and it doesn't mean much. However, if we do for others and expect nothing in return, this makes people notice. They notice because we aren't acting like the world acts. We are acting like Jesus.
I had the opportunity to help a friend today. It was no big deal. It didn't take long or require much effort. Still, I'm thankful to the Lord to have been able to help. Although I'm obviously not Jesus, while I was serving my friend I felt a little more like Him.
As followers of Jesus we have placed our faith in Him. Real faith is always accompanied by works. As the saying goes, "Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone." The works that are expected by God are works of service. When we perform these we show that our faith is real. It's also when we are the most like Jesus.
Since being like Christ is a wonderful gift, it's clear that when we serve we are actually being given a gift by God. The gift is Christlikeness.
Let's take every opportunity we have to serve others. Not only does it bless the recipient, but it also blesses us by making us more like Jesus.
2 comments:
Eric,
You are so right!
Yet the common attitude regarding being the Church seems to be that it is all about ourselves?
John,
It's interesting that Jesus' message, while profound, is also relatively simple. I guess our duty is to lovingly serve others and hope that they take notice and do the same.
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